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Canada Amends Energy Efficiency Standards for 20 Products

17 February 2017

The Canadian government has amended the current mandatory minimum energy efficiency standards for consumer and commercial products by (i) updating the standards for 20 currently regulated categories to align them with requirements in force or soon to be in force in the United States; (ii) repealing the regulated requirements for digital television adapters; (iii) making minor updates to the scope, reporting and compliance requirements for eight currently regulated product categories to reflect updated requirements in both the United States and Canada; and (iv) repealing and replacing the regulations to remove references to obsolete and out-of-date standards and improving the organisation of the regulatory text in order to make it easier for stakeholders to find and understand the requirements that apply to them. This action will ostensibly save Canadians about CAN$1.8 billion in energy costs and result in the reduction of about 0.7 megatonnes of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

Specifically, the new regulation will do the following.

align with the U.S. test procedure changes, dates of manufacture and energy efficiency standards for household appliances and commercial clothes washers

update reporting requirements by including new energy efficiency metrics for clothes dryers, clothes washers and clothes washer-dryers in order to ensure that the measured energy efficiency and information provided to customers best represent the latest technologies and the way these appliances are used

allow for clothes dryers to be tested to either the Canadian standard or the U.S. alternative test procedure (Appendix D2), consistent with the flexibility provided in the United States

for central air conditioners and heat pumps manufactured on or after 1 January 2017, the regulations will align with U.S. energy efficiency standards and test procedures that have been in effect since January 2015 (the regulations do not change the standards for split-system central air conditioners, the most common type in Canada, since the current standards for that type are already aligned with those of the United States)

for chillers manufactured on or after 1 June 2015, the regulations will align with American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers standards that have been in effect in many U.S. states since 2010

for commercial refrigerators, refrigerator-freezers and freezers (self-contained) manufactured on or after 1 January 2012, the regulations will align with the U.S. standards and test procedures that have been in effect since 2012

for electric motors manufactured on or after 1 June 2016, the regulations will align with the standards and test procedures that will come into effect in the United States on the same date; the same standards and test procedures will apply to medical imaging motors manufactured on or after 1 June 2017

for fluorescent lamp ballasts manufactured on or after 14 November 2014, the regulations will align with the standards and test procedures that have been in effect in the United States since 2014

for general service fluorescent lamps manufactured on or after 15 July 2012, the regulations will align with the standards have been in effect in the United States since 2012; for products manufactured on or after 26 January 2018, the regulations will align with standards and test procedures that will come into effect in the United States on the same date

for general service incandescent reflector lamps manufactured on or after 15 July 2012, the regulations will align with the standards and test procedures that have been in effect in the United States since 2012

for icemakers manufactured on or after 28 January 2018, the regulations will align with U.S. standards and test procedures that will come into effect on the same date

for packaged terminal air conditioners and heat pumps manufactured on or after 30 September 2012, the regulations will align with the standards and test procedures that have been in effect in the United States since 2012

for refrigerated beverage vending machines manufactured on or after 31 August 2012, the regulations will align with the standards and test procedures that have been in effect in the United States since 2012

for room air conditioners manufactured on or after 1 June 2014, the regulations will (i) align with the standards and test procedures that have been in effect in the United States since 2014 and (ii) include provisions consistent with changes to labelling recently announced by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission by allowing labels to appear either on product packaging or on the product itself

for gas-fired storage water heaters manufactured on or after 31 December 2016, the regulations will align average and large volume water heaters with the U.S. standards for average volume tanks that have been in effect since 2015 (the United States has implemented more stringent standards for large volume tanks that would not apply in Canada)

for oil-fired water heaters manufactured on or after 31 December 2016, the regulations will align with the standards that have been in effect in the United States since 2015

In general, the dates of manufacture prescribed by the regulations align with dates in the United States even if those dates have already passed in an effort to ensure consistency between the regulatory text in the Canadian and U.S. regulations. While some dates are in the past, the regulations are not being implemented retroactively. Product models imported into Canada or shipped between provinces prior to the effective date of the proposed regulations will not be impacted and consumers will be able to purchase them.

In addition to the above, the regulations make minor changes to the scope or content of the reporting requirements for electric ranges, exit signs, external power supplies, gas fireplaces, through-the-wall gas furnaces, general service lamps, televisions, and large commercial air conditioners and heat pumps. Moreover, the regulated requirements for digital television adapters, which are designed to allow analogue TVs to receive over-the-air digital signals, are being repealed due to the dramatic decline in sales of these products.